Category Archives: Australia

The opening tour game at Victoria saw Rahul Dravid return to form. He was sent as an opener and scored an unbeaten 33 before the match was washed out due to rain. Well, Dravid’s return to form has triggered many questions on who will open for India on the boxing day.

Virendra Sehwag stands as a good opening prospect. Though out of form, he may be under quite a lot of pressure, but all he needs is one innings to signal his return to international cricket. He has proved his mettle in the last series in 2003-2004 by scoring a clean 195. He is a good player of cut shots and displays class while playing on backfoot – the latter being a key ingredient to negotiate bounce in Australia. This means – ‘Better luck next time, Yuvi.’

Dinesh Karthik plays well on foreign wickets, like he did in England and South Africa. He has a good on-field chemistry with Jaffer and hence an excellent running between the wickets. But, a major flaw in Karthink’s batting is that he looks quite nervous while facing pace bowlers and is not able to play outswingers well. He should be more precise on shot selection and should be able to leave the balls going wide outside the off-stump. If Sehwag fails in first two tests straight, Karthik should be given a chance to open at WACA, Perth, where the wicket favours spin bowlers.

As a spectator, I think India is not well prepared for the high pressure tour, Down Under. I’d blame the following, if Team India under-performs:

Crammed schedule will not allow the team to acclimatize with Australian conditions. BCCI should have planned only two tests with Pakistan instead of three. This would have given Team India some extra time to recuperate and get used to bouncy Australian wickets. Sachin Tendulkar speaks out

Team India does not have a regular coach till date who can lay match winning strategies against the very best in the world. Again BCCI is to be blamed for it’s myopic vision

India does not home good cricketing wickets, either. We only have the ‘batting’ wickets here. Though Indian wickets are said to be spinner friendly, the tracks are more or less flat.

Team India only has some great experience with little skill set to play at the challenging tracks in Australia. I wish this tour ends in a draw; if India loses pathetically, then it will be recorded as ‘Blunder Down Under’ in the cricketing history.

Cricket Australia has come up with an idea to add more faces to the cricket consumer base. CA wants to play day-night test matches and believes that more people can enjoy the match after office. This will also enhance cricket’s profile among the working class, CA reckons. But I think this whole idea will only deteriorate the art of cricket. Here is how.

Cricket does not only put physical fitness to test but mental agility, as well. The fielding test captain has to be on his toes throughout the day and has to rotate his bowlers deftly and set the field according to the bowler’s speciality. One cue for the test captain to rotate bowlers is by judging the condition of the pitch and that of the ball. The older the ball, the more helpful it is for spinners and medium pace ballers, preferably those who can dexterously produce swing; and the newer the ball, the more useful it is for fast ballers who can extract bounce from the pitch combined with stinging pace.

BCCI pulled another surprise when Viru Sehwag was included in the final 16 to tour Australia this December. Mind you, he was not in the 24 probables’ list. This is indeed a good decision as Viru is the master of backfoot and quite a genius at playing cuts. He has displayed equal finesse in playing on the bouncy pitches of Australia. This could also be a moral booster for Parthiv Patel and Aakash Chopra, who were not selected despite their terrific form in domestic cricket, that if they perform they may be back in the team.

A blunder has been committed by dropping Murali Karthik, though. India need specialist spinners on the pitches of Adelaide and Sydney. Kumble and Harbhajan are good but the captain can’t replace the ace left leggy with a part time bowler.

Dinesh Karthik has been lucky to have retained his place despite a below par series with Pakistan. His place was threatened by Parthiv Patel, who is an equally competent wicket-keeper and opener batsman. Had Viru been dropped, Aakash Chopra would have definitely donned the Test cap. Better luck next time Aakash and Parthiv.

Indian pace attack has regained it’s fitness. Zaheer Khan will lead the pack. RP Singh has passed the fitness test, as well. Ishant Sharma and VRV Singh will retain their spot. Another surprise entry in the test squad against Australia has been Pankaj Singh of Rajasthan. The 22 years old, 6’5″ pacer is well suited for Australian conditions. Because of his height and bowling action he can deduce extra pace and bounce from the wickets, Down Under.

The final 16 member squad for the Australian tour which starts in Perth from December 24, 2007 is as follows:

Yuvraj Singh once again proved the selectors wrong by playing a masterly knock of 169 during the final test(08/12/2007-12/12/2007) against Pakistan at Bangalore. The southpaw last played his test against WI at Kingston in July ’06 and was regularly sidelined by the selectors because of the presence of more experienced players.

In the morning session, India were 61/4 and the damage was done by the debutant, Yasir Arafat. India’s left-hander duo, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh scored handsome centuries to save the day for India.

Yuvi has given a strong message to the selectors and team management. Hope he is in the playing eleven of the team which plays Australia in two weeks time.

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In a country of 1 billion people, where there is a want of space and money, a reason to smile is always craved for. Cricket is a medium which provides us Indians with enough fuel to remain upbeat. It's not just a game for us, but a religion we ardently practice ...